I will now give the ruling on the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Mississauga South on October 6. I thank the hon. member for raising the question, as well as the hon. member for Yellowhead for his comments.

The hon. member for Mississauga South argued that, in light of the complexity of the bill and of the number of amendments which the House had adopted at report stage, members required a reprint of the bill in order to be able to properly conduct debate at third reading. He pointed out that this need was all the more pressing given that the bill had not been debated since April 10 of this year.

The unanimous consent of the House was sought on March 31 and again on October 3 to permit a motion ordering a reprint of the bill to be put to a vote. The consent was denied.

I would like to remind the hon. member that it is not the practice of the House to have bills reprinted at third reading. In this regard I refer him to the ruling by the Deputy Speaker on the same point concerning Bill C-13 on March 31, at page 4922 of the Debates .

As the hon. member is fully aware, the House may, if it chooses, order a reprint of the bill. The unanimous consent necessary to allow such a motion to be put without notice has so far not been forthcoming.

Mr. Speaker, I welcome and accept the ruling of the Chair on the question of privilege. I would simply indicate that it would be my intent to make recommendations to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, with possible reference to a future modernization committee, on the point simply that denial of unanimous consent for a reprint in matters such as this would not be unreasonably withheld.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veteran Affairs.

Pursuant to the order of reference of Friday, September 26, 2003, your committee considered and held hearings on Bill C-37, an act to amend the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts, and agreed on Tuesday, October 7, 2003, to report it without amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 47th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the associate membership of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

If the House gives its consent I intend to move concurrence in the 47th report later this day.

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-455, an act to provide for a program giving financial assistance to high school students visiting overseas military memorial sites.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my seconder from Windsor—St. Clair and the person from Brandon—Souris who wanted to triple the bill.

The bill would allow the government to simply look at a program, to work with the provinces, the school boards and various veterans organizations, such as the Royal Canadian Legion, et cetera, to see if it is possible to encourage and financially assist high school students, some time during their high school year, to visit an overseas military site.

For those who were at Juno Beach for the opening on June 6 of this year, it was an extremely moving event to be with 900 veterans and their families.

The reality is that many Canadian young people simply do not have a complete understanding of what our soldiers and their families went through during our various wars and conflicts. I think this would be a great way to assist those young people in acquiring a better understanding of what our most hallowed veterans and their families went through during those times of crises and it could lead to everlasting peace throughout this world.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased today to introduce a bill whose purpose is to amend the Excise Tax Act so that disposable and fabric diapers are exempted from the GST. I think that it is totally unacceptable that children's diapers should be taxed, as this is an essential need for families, children and also for parents.

I believe that this measure can help families in a concrete way. I invite all my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present two petitions on behalf of my constituents of Brandon—Souris.

The first petition asks that medical expenses be a tax credit. They wish Parliament to take the necessary steps to change the Income Tax Act to allow receipts for vitamins and supplements to be used as medical expenses in personal income tax returns and again have them GST exempt.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition, again on behalf of the constituents of Brandon—Souris, is also with respect to their right to making informed choices and having access to non-drug medicinal products of their own choosing. They wish to provide Canadians with greater access to non-drug preventive and medicinal options.

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition on behalf of the citizens of the Peterborough area who point out that marriage is a unique social institution that provides a supporting relationship between a woman and a man and that marriage is an institution so basic to the human condition and the common good that its nature is beyond the reach of civil law. They call upon Parliament to take all necessary means to maintain and support this definition of marriage in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I have two brief petitions today. The first is on the subject matter of stem cells. Petitioners from across Canada, including my own riding of Mississauga South, would like to draw to the attention of the House that Canadians do support ethical stem cell research, which has already shown encouraging potential to provide cures and therapies for illnesses and diseases. They also want to point out that non-embryonic stem cells, also known as adult stem cells, have shown significant research progress without the immune rejection or ethical problems associated with embryonic stem cells. The petitioners therefore pray upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find those necessary cures and therapies.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is in regard to same sex marriage. The petitioners would like to remind the House that on June 10 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the definition of marriage was unconstitutional pursuant to the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The petitioners also remind the House, however, that the federal government can invoke the notwithstanding clause to override that decision. The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to invoke the notwithstanding clause, thereby retaining the traditional definition of marriage as being the legal union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from the Wreck Beach community, friends and visitors in Vancouver. There are over 700 signatures on the petition. The petitioners call on Parliament to bring to the attention of the government the folly of purchasing a 20 year old British hovercraft as a replacement for the 045 Hovercraft at Sea Island base in Vancouver. They call upon Parliament to direct the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to purchase a new hovercraft, a vessel that would be capable of doing the medical evacuations that are sometimes required and capable also of serving as an adequate dive platform for the Coast Guard dive team.

Mr. Speaker, I present this petition on behalf of my colleague, the member for Western Arctic. It states that in the event the Government of Canada may be asked to support the U.S. national missile defence program to be operated by North American Aerospace Defence Command, this might be a step toward deployment of weapons in space and lead to a new arms race. Also, the international non-proliferation treaty and the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty were cornerstones of the arms control and disarmament regimes and have been long supported by Canada. The petitioners call upon Parliament to declare that Canada objects to the national missile defence program of the United States and also to play a leadership role in banning nuclear weapons and missile flight tests.